Welcome to the meditation on the empty room.
In this ordinary moment,
Close your eyes and focus on the sensation of breathing.
Become aware of breathing,
The in-breath and the out-breath.
Form a single pointed concentration on the sensation of your breath at the tip of your nose or wherever you feel it most prominently.
Feel the presence of your body,
Your straight posture,
How your legs are placed on the cushion or seat,
The way your arms hang down and are placed in your lap or on your thighs.
Feel your sheer weight being supported by the cushion or chair that you are sitting upon.
Feel your grounding connection to the earth as you sit.
Focus back on your breath,
The sensation of the in and the out,
The lungs contracting and expanding,
Causing the rise and the fall of your chest.
Any thoughts that arise,
Let them come.
Acknowledge their presence and then let them go.
Any sensations that you may feel,
Apply the same process of experiencing them,
Letting them be and then letting them pass.
As these phenomena arise,
Continue to maintain a single pointed concentration on your breath,
Returning to it at any moment that you find your mind wandering.
Just try to become aware of this ordinary process of breathing.
It's a process that seems so natural,
So normal that we rarely even think of it.
Yet it's this process of breathing that keeps us alive.
Throughout the ordinary moments,
Throughout every day.
Now we're going to begin some contemplation.
I'd like for you to imagine in front of you a door.
When this door opens,
All that you see inside is an empty room.
The room is devoid of any windows,
Furniture or other light source.
In fact,
It just appears to be a very plain,
Large,
Empty box with this door providing the only access point.
Now,
I'd like for you to imagine all of your most favorite coveted material possessions.
This could be things like your favorite pieces of jewelry or clothing,
Maybe your smartphone,
Watch,
Television or computer.
It could even be a car,
A bicycle or motorcycle or boat if you have one.
Each of your favorite things now are placed one by one in the center of the empty room and the door closed.
When the door opens,
The item is gone.
It has just literally dissolved and disappeared with no trace.
Imagine yourself for a moment,
Seeing all of your precious belongings one by one being placed in that room,
The door closing,
Opening and in those seconds,
Whatever it was is now gone until every last one of your things has completely disappeared.
And now think to yourself,
How does that feel knowing all of your precious material things are now gone?
Now,
Imagine all of your friends,
Coworkers,
All of the people you know,
Their voices talking to each other casually,
Them sharing their stories as they each step into this empty room single file,
One by one.
And as they do,
The door closes,
Opens once again and they've also disappeared.
This continues on one by one until each and every person is gone.
And after that,
Imagine your family,
Spouses,
Parents,
Siblings and children.
I want you to imagine their voices,
Envision their smiles and feel the love you have.
For each one of them.
And just imagine them all stepping through that door into that empty room and each disappearing one at a time.
And notice how now you're standing outside of that room all alone.
How does it feel to you now to know your friends and family?
They're now all gone.
You've all stepped through that door to the other side and into that empty room.
Now picture the room where you are or the space that you are in.
All of the contents of the room could be a bed,
Chairs,
Cushions,
All being placed into that empty room,
The door closing and everything disappearing as well.
And then continue outward.
Picture your house,
Your yard,
Your neighborhood,
The city or town you live in,
All of it being placed in that room and disappearing.
Imagine the feeling of the sun on your face and the wind on your skin,
All of it placed in that room and it's now gone.
And now as you stand there,
Your memories,
Your feelings,
All of the knowledge you've gained from the books you have read and the school classes you've attended,
Every word you've ever heard,
Your entire vocabulary,
Any languages you may know,
Every song you've ever listened to,
Every sound you've ever heard,
All being put into that empty room,
The door closing and it all disappearing.
And as each of these things go,
One by one,
Now there's just you,
Just you standing there.
Now you walk slowly through that door and into that empty room and now you slowly disappear.
And then all that's left is that room and then the door and the empty room disappears.
And now that's it.
There is nothing left.
There is just awareness of emptiness.
The emptiness of all that is.
I want you to notice what you feel as you become aware of this emptiness and become aware that death will one day come in an ordinary moment just like this one.
Now bring your awareness back to where you are,
The room that you are in,
The space where you are.
Feel your body once again sitting grounded with the earth.
Feel your breath once again with the rise and the fall of your chest,
Breathing,
Knowing that you are alive.
And notice how wonderful it is just to be alive.
This is a simple practice that can serve as a reminder that death will come at an ordinary moment,
A moment just like this one.
But now,
After our contemplation,
What first seemed like an ordinary moment can now be seen as anything but ordinary because it is an extraordinary moment of being alive.
And this is the nature of impermanence.
Things are continually changing.
One thing ends and another thing begins.
But in the end,
It's all impermanent.
And what there is,
Is emptiness.
And I want you to think about that,
To just enjoy the feeling of how great it is just to be here with everything,
Just the way it is,
With your finances,
Just the way they are,
The relationships and friendships you have,
Just the way that they are,
The job that you have,
Just the way that it is,
Everything,
Just the way that it is,
And how good that can feel because you are alive to feel it.
Just reflect on this for a moment and then you may open your eyes at the sound of the day.
You
